Moocs

On this page you will find:

I. My tips to succeed in a MOOC
II. Should you get University Credit?
III. 10 steps to develop an online course!

I. My tips to succeed in a MOOC:

- Enroll, unenroll, choose wisely:
Do not hesitate to sign up for several interesting classes. Maybe just one or two more than what you feel you can keep up with comfortable. Most probably, one or two of them will not be to your taste, will be to easy, or maybe to challenging... Unroll from those 2 courses, and concentrate on the other(s).

- What is you level of implication:
I watched some lectures and then unenrolled from week 1. I have done translations for lectures I felt curiosity for, but preferred not to enroll.
I decided to complete the assignment of all the courses I have decided to follow until the end. But, some people choose to only watch the video lectures until the end and not do any assignment. Up to you!
You can work solo, but I highly recommend you to sign up on the Facebook group, to interact on forums, to translate videos, to share your notes and so on... It can be highly rewarding.

- Set up a healthy routine
Set up a routine... Watch lectures on a regular if not daily base. Read on a regular if not daily base. Do your homework on a regular if not daily base. Don't leave it to the last day... Completing everything in a day per week is super super challenging.

- Assignments:
So far, I came across 2 ways of grading students:

a. Students answer quizzes:
The system calculate your grade instantly after pushing the send button.
In this case, you may do something it take me a long time to accept... On Coursera, you may look at the answers before watching the lectures. It has been recommended by professors in several cases.
I first considered that cheating... But then, hey, in real life, you are often ask to find a solution. You gather the material to answer, and then you find the solution. So, well, why not!

b. You need to send essays, pictures, videos of your personal work or share you work on a blog.
This I find this to be the most exciting way to participate in a course.
In this case, you should be able to upload your work as many times as you want before the deadline. And and would recommend you to do so. You never know, you might be stuck at the end of the week for some reason, and not be able to send any material. In some cases you might not pass your class just because you have not been able to submit your work, even thus, it is there, in a folder in your computer...

c. In all cases:
Use the class material extensively, but no plagiarism.

- Complete the class material with onside material.
Most people use wiki at least as a starting point.
Visit TED, BIG THINK, YOUTUBE and similar platforms.
Check what professionals in the field you are studying are doing.

- Work on your posture if you feel you can't make it!
Most courses I found very easy. But I found one of the course more challenging because it was not in my field at all. In the middle of the course, I thought about dropping out. I did succeed thus!

Here is a video which will help if you are highly interested in a class but think you cannot make it:

II. University credit:

Should you get university credit after succeeding in a online MOOC?

Intuitively, I would answer... No way! But I would wish... Of course.

Let's be honest... You might have succeeded at a course by answering a multiple choices questionnaire using your hand notes next to you, when students at university following the same course had to write essays or answer to more complex exercises without the help of their notes...  So you have showed a good understanding of the course. You have probably memorized a lot and you would probably be able to use your knowledge in more challenging situations. But, I don't think that you can prove at this point that you deserve university credit, even if you do...

However, I believe that if you succeeded in very practical courses which involved very personal work, you would have great reason to raise the question...
- Let's take design and entrepreneurship for example... I mean being able to create a viable project even from the comfort of your home is exactly what someone who claims to be a designer and an entrepreneur would be expected to do in real life. But, then... Does that person really needs university credit?
- Let's say that in a course you needed to produce the equivalent of a small thesis including a lot of work, personal effort and an original point of view... There... Well.. There. Yes. In my opinion, in this case, you would deserve university credit. But, then, we are not in the 20th century anymore! And you will for sure find ways of sharing your work with many people across the world who will be able to judge you on your production. You can easily include links (you can make them private) to your work to enter a renowned company or a big university...

With a bit of imagination, I think that you can make your learning journey beat the value of a university credit!

Here are 10 steps to developing an online course!

Are you an expert in a particular field? Do you love teaching? Then this video is for you!!

All the best to you!

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